


Imaginary Friend

by LilRegal92



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-12 04:00:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7919716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilRegal92/pseuds/LilRegal92





	Imaginary Friend

Regina sat on the bench and watched as her niece ran around the playground, playing tag. For the last week the entire Mills family had been sick, leaving everyone cooped up in the house. This was the first day in which they’d actually had the chance to go out and have some fun in what felt like forever. Parks were never a real enjoyable place for Robyn, but she needed to blow off all the energy she’d accumulated while Regina recovered from her illness. The little girl had made it to the top of the structure and was getting ready to slide down the slide when another child tapped her on the shoulder, making her ‘it’. Robyn smiled wildly and shouted, “Okay! I’m coming down!”

The second her feet hit the bark dust, she took off running, sending every other kid who was playing in the opposite direction. Rather than turning back around to chase after one of her newfound friends, baby Hood ran off towards the nearby trees. Everyone stopped and stared, but Regina shot up and sprinted in the same direction, calling after her. It wasn’t that the trees were thick, but that Robyn was small and had a head start. Rushing to look for the child she was in charge of, the mayor soon began to panic, yelling the girl’s name as loud as she could. Instead of getting a direct reply, all that could be heard was a giggle. The scene suddenly felt eerie as she searched the area, expecting the worst.

“Come on, let’s play!” She heard Robyn exclaim playfully.

“Robyn, where are you?” Regina called out to her.

The only clue she received was an echo that sounded like it came from her left towards the back of the forest, “No, I don’t want to.”

Alarm bells went off in Regina’s head. That was not an appropriate response to the question she’d asked. She was speaking to someone else, but the only voice she’d heard was her niece’s. This told her that whoever Robyn was speaking to was talking in a hushed tone, so that she was the only one who could hear them. This made the woman nervous and she became frantic as she ran through the trees. By this time, some of the other parents had noticed what was going on, including Snow. Without hesitating, the Charming asked one of the other mothers to keep an eye on Neal and joined Regina in her search.

“What happened?” Snow asked upon arriving.

Regina spun around to see if there was any sign of the child in the other directions. “I don’t know.” She turned back and told Snow, “She was playing tag with the others and after she came down the slide she just ran off.”

“It’s okay, we’ll find her.”

Together the two women scoured the trees, searching as much ground as they could before Robyn suddenly stepped out from behind a tree, directly in front of Regina. The mayor, after almost tripping over the child, scooped her up and held her tight. Her heart was racing so fast, she was sure it would short out like an electrical fuse and kill her. In her years as a mother, she’d never experienced anything close to what had just happened. Snow ran up to them and silently asked if they were okay with one look. Regina nodded as she stood up, one arm around Robyn’s body and the other on the back of the child’s head. She kissed the little girl and gave her one last squeeze before loosening her grip to look her in the face.

“Don’t ever do that to me again, okay?” She said softly.

The little girl looked confused, “Do what?”

“Run off by yourself.”

“But, Aunty, I wasn’t by myself.”

Regina and Snow looked at each other with wide eyes as they walked back to the playground, Robyn now on her aunt’s hip. They felt it was necessary to warn the other mothers that they’d just been informed someone was luring the kids into the woods. Several of the women began to grab their kids, while a couple ran to grab their husbands. David had overheard one of them telling their child’s father of what happened and immediately headed to the playground at the park. In less than half an hour a search party had started in the nearby forest for whoever tried taking Robyn. Zelena has been called the second the other moms had begun to leave and she took her daughter home.

After an hour or so Regina showed up on her sister’s doorstep with an update, “They haven’t found anyone yet, they’re going to look for a little longer in another part of the woods. If they can’t find anyone, David and Emma are going to patrol the town tonight to look for anyone suspicious.”

The previously wicked witch replied, “Okay.”

They both heard Robyn’s voice coming from the living room saying, “No, mommy says I have to stay inside. Do you want to have a tea party?... Okay!”

Regina looked over her sister’s shoulder to see an excited Robyn dash off to her room and return only a few seconds later with a basket full of plastic tea cups, saucers, spoons, and anything else needed for a tea party. Zelena whispered, “She’s been playing these little games with herself since we got home.”

“Well, she does have an active imagination,” Regina said, continuing to observe her niece.

“I know, but she insisted on me bringing out two coloring books when we got back and setting an extra place at the dinner table tonight.”  
The mayor looked at her younger sister, “So? Maybe she just has an imaginary friend. Henry had one of those growing up.”

Zelena looked her sister dead in the eye as she added, “Part of the page she’d opened in the second coloring book was colored perfectly inside the lines.”

“What?”

Stepping aside, the red haired women motioned for Regina to come in and then led her to kitchen table where a coloring book sat open. It was a picture of a butterfly where the body had been shaded in lightly with a tan colored pencil. Zelena then picked up a page that had been ripped out and placed under the book, revealing a jungle scene that had been scribbled on for the most part by anything that the child could have got her hands on. The two images were like night and day in difference and Regina had spent enough time with her niece to know she didn’t bother with making her pictures look neat and tidy. The dark haired woman looked in the direction of her niece was now playing tea party and watched as she had a full blown conversation with herself. Curious as to what was going on, Regina finally walked over and stood beside the child.

“Hey Robyn, who are you talking to?”

The little girl smiled up at her and replied, “My friend.”

Regina looked from her niece, to her sister, then back and asked, “Does your friend mind if I join you?”

She nodded, stating, “Sure, he likes you.”

The mayor sat down between her niece and the assumed friend and asked, “Does your friend have a name?”

The child nodded once again. “Yeah.” She stated simply. “Robin.”


End file.
